There is plenty wrong with Hull City as the 2017-18 season nears its conclusion. A perilous position in the Championship, falling attendances, its want-away owners and this aching absence of a long-term plan.

The list of worries is long and increasing but there is nothing sadder than the divide opening up between supporters.

Before, during and after Friday's 1-0 win over Sheffield United there have been insults and jibes exchanged like loose change. Social media can be a breeding ground for spite at the best of times but it has clearly revealed the levels of bickering among City fans.

To protest against owners Assem and Ehab Allam or not to protest? That is the question without an answer.

The vast majority of supporters are willing to accept that a change in ownership is needed for this club to flourish once more, but the way that is pursued has become the increasingly prominent conundrum.

In one corner are the activists. Whether under the banner of Hull City Action for Change or the newly-rebranded Saving Hull City AFC, they have led marches and twice caused interruptions to televised fixtures by throwing hundreds of sponge balls on to the KCOM Stadium’s pitch.

The numbers involved in such groups is unclear – Friday night’s march would suggest in the region of 200 – but their voices have certainly been heard and accompanied by others inside a ground where chants opposed to the ongoing rule of the Allam family have become commonplace.

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A prearranged chorus of whistles was the latest means of a protest on Friday night and you suspect things might have gone further had it not been for the heavy presence of stewards and police in front of the North Stand. There appeared to be a number of supporters all eager for a pitch invasion until Nouha Dicko became the matchwinner in the 55th minute.

Two fans eventually made it out from the East Stand after the full-time whistle, parading an “Allam Out” banner around the pitch and behind the live TV interviews, but the mood would have been very different had the action been halted for a second time by supporters entering the pitch.

Hull City fans protest past media interviews on the pitch following the Championship match at the KCOM Stadium

And that leads us to the pacifists. There is undeniably a section of fans opposed to protests against the club’s owners. Some might accept marches through West Park but the moment those are brought into the KCOM Stadium there is a fear it all becomes counterproductive.

While the activists cheered when the yellow balls rained down on Jamal Blackman’s penalty area on Friday night, there will have been pacifists who tutted. Two and a half minutes were needed for the clean-up operation, causing an interruption to a vital Championship fixture.

That core of fans will argue that protests are futile. Sponge balls and whistles will not bring about the sale of a football club so why bother?

There is no right or wrong answer in all this but that fails to stop supporters sniping at each other from opposite sides of the fence.

PROTESTS APLENTY: Hull City fans in and around the KCOM Stadium on Friday night. (Image: HDM & Focus)

And that is where the sorrow comes. Fans of the same club have been at loggerheads as though they were rivals. Twitter, Facebook and the comments section of articles such as this sets the stage for contrasting viewpoints. Occasionally it can be genial but more often than not it is venomous.

That underlines how following City has gradually become a joyless experience. A seventh win of this Championship season was readily accepted by one and all on Friday night but not like it might have been in years gone by. Politics has encroached on a hobby and all the while there is an unease that lingers.

“Let’s find a way, owners and supporters sitting around a table and let’s get it sorted so supporters can come and support the football club,” said head coach Nigel Adkins last week. “I want them to enjoy supporting Hull City. I want them to fall in love with Hull City again.”

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Hull city protests

Plenty have certainly fallen out of love. Although the membership scheme and abolition of concessionary tickets have accounted for a good number of lapsed supporters, there will no doubt be others who no longer enjoy the mood that greets them at the KCOM Stadium. Some have reached a stage where they simply cannot be bothered with the strife.

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Friday’s crowd summed that up. The official crowd of 15,213 included 1,852 away fans meant only 13,361 City fans braved the cold. Account for the boosted gate figures and who knows? Perhaps there was fewer than 12,000 home supporters there to see Sheffield United beaten.

That is a sorry statistic for a club relegated from the Premier League nine months ago but it is the divisions opening up between those left behind that makes the heart really sink. Oh for the days when football was the only concern.